Dining down

Growth in the US restaurant industry has decelerated and turned negative recently. Restaurants with higher-priced menus are doing better than lower priced fast food, but both are seeing a deceleration in sales growth. Possible drivers of this trend are pressure on low income consumers’ disposable income, menu price hikes, rising penetration of weight loss drugs and more cooking at home to save money.

Source: Black Box Intelligence, Bloomberg, December 2025.